INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A HELLO SUNSHINE x REESE WITHERSPOON BOOK CLUB PICKA thrilling tale of secretaries turned spies, of love and duty, and of sacrifice–inspired by the true story of the CIA plot to infiltrate the hearts and minds of Soviet Russia, not with propaganda, but with the greatest love story of the twentieth century: Doctor Zhivago.At the height of the Cold War, two … Zhivago.
At the height of the Cold War, two secretaries are pulled out of the typing pool at the CIA and given the assignment of a lifetime. Their mission: to smuggle Doctor Zhivago out of the USSR, where no one dare publish it, and help Pasternak’s magnum opus make its way into print around the world. Glamorous and sophisticated Sally Forrester is a seasoned spy who has honed her gift for deceit all over the world–using her magnetism and charm to pry secrets out of powerful men. Irina is a complete novice, and under Sally’s tutelage quickly learns how to blend in, make drops, and invisibly ferry classified documents.
The Secrets We Kept combines a legendary literary love story–the decades-long affair between Pasternak and his mistress and muse, Olga Ivinskaya, who was sent to the Gulag and inspired Zhivago’s heroine, Lara–with a narrative about two women empowered to lead lives of extraordinary intrigue and risk. From Pasternak’s country estate outside Moscow to the brutalities of the Gulag, from Washington, D.C. to Paris and Milan, The Secrets We Kept captures a watershed moment in the history of literature–told with soaring emotional intensity and captivating historical detail. And at the center of this unforgettable debut is the powerful belief that a piece of art can change the world.
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The Secrets We Kept is simply sensational. Two gripping narratives unfold in the pressure cooker of the Cold War: passionate, courageous Olga who stands in the shadow of Soviet author Boris Pasternak yet inspires him to write a heroine for the ages, and the cynical, equally-overshadowed women of the CIA who help bring Pasternak’s masterpiece Dr. Zhivago to bear as a weapon against Soviet oppression. From the gulags of the USSR to the cherry blossom trees of Washington DC, the story grips and refuses to let go. Lara Prescott is a star in the making.
The hype surrounding this book is so well-deserved. I’m a fan of anything lady spy, especially CIA, so I pounced the moment it came out, and it was so worth it. Elegantly written and realized, Prescott has done a fascinating moment in history justice. I had no idea about the backstory of Dr. Zhivago’s long road to publication. Prescott presents all sides of the story, from Russian gulags to the swans of a D.C. summer, from the keen eye of multiple fascinating narrators. This is a get smart kind of book. (see what I did there?) I loved it!
I’ve been venturing outside of my comfort zone lately and picking up books I wouldn’t normally read. And with this story, I’m glad I did. I thought the concept was original and loved the way the author weaved in factual history with her characters. And Cold War female spies? Yes, please! While I believed more could have been done to build an element of danger for the characters, it was a solid read. I would recommend this book.
This was such an engrossing read! I hadn’t known anything about Pasternak’s life, and truth be told, I’m probably one of the few people who’ve never seen Dr. Zhivago (although it was a HUGE hit when I was a teenager). I liked the technique Prescott employed using the “typists” to tell us a lot about what went on in secret during the Cold War. And I enjoyed the way Prescott carefully built the budding relationship between Irina and Sally. But if Prescott wanted us to understand and accept Olga’s obsessive love for the selfish and self-absorbed Pasternak–a love that triumphed her concern for her own children and that led to her becoming a political prisoner–then I’m afraid she failed with this reader. Olga’s infatuation was not nearly as interesting as Irina’s character development and her absorption into the world of spies and the secrets they kept.
found this book very slow
Epic in scope, deliciously meaty, and utterly convincing.
A very interesting piece of history and how the U.S./Soviet spy game was played.
Disjointed timelines, didnt care for the lesbian theme halfway through the book. Not an inspiring read. Just plods along.
I CHOSE IT BECAUSE I COULD WATCH THE MOVIE A DOZEN TIMES AND NEVER TIRE OF IT. LOVED THE CONNECTION IN THIS WELL WRITTEN BOOK
Wonderful information and presentation of Boris Pasternak’s Dr. Zhivago and it’s effects and consequences.
The story takes place during the Cold War, and it’s an interesting blend of fact and fiction. I had no idea there was so much flak in Russia over the book Dr. Zhivago, and how the US wanted to best the Russians by making sure the book was published. Lots of intrigue and spy stuff.
Story was good but didn’t complete the storyline very cohesively.
A very enjoyable historical read that inspired me to obtain Dr. Zhivago to re-read again!
A Stunning Novel Based On True Events.
Inspired by actual events during the Cold War, the author delivers a thrilling multi-voiced story of female espionage in the West, a scandalous love triangle in the East, and the book at the heart of it all. A well researched fascinating page turner of engaging characters, taking extraordinary risks, for a bittersweet end.
Wonderful story with little known history
I absolutely loved this book! I didn’t want it to end.
Based on real life events surrounding the publication of Doctor Zhivago, written by Russian novelist and poet Boris Pasternak and banned for a time in his homeland, this book fills in where history isn’t known.
Fancifully imagined and well-researched, this book contains too many characters to make a solid connection with any, but strives to tell a full story with an assortment of people who were and could have been involved with the publication of this volume.
I listened to the audio book and was delighted with the vocal performance of Mohzan Marno. Her character, Pasternak’s lover Olga Ivinskaya, seems on the surface to be as different from Marno as night and day. Marno is an American actress and known particularly as Agent Navabi from Blacklist, whereas Ivinskaya was a Russian writer and poet. She was the inspiration for the Zhivago character Lara and worked tirelessly on the publication of the book. I made the best connection with Olga, most likely because of the vocal performance of the audiobook.
I also enjoyed Irina, who worked undercover to see to the distribution of this book.
3.5 stars is probably more accurate. Although a well-written and impressive debut novel about an interesting topic, I found I liked the book less and less as it progressed.
The novel tells the story of the role played by the CIA in the publishing of the Russian novel “Dr. Zhivago” by Boris Pasternak. Because the novel was considered anti-Soviet in the 1950s, the manuscript had to be smuggled out of the Soviet Union in order to be published internationally. The CIA helped distribute the novel as part of the government’s Cold War strategy (proven by documents released years later under the Freedom of Information Act).
The novel is constructed as a series of chapters voiced by different characters. Some represent the West: women working in the CIA’s typing pool or others who work as CIA operatives. The chapters representing the East are voiced by Olga, Boris’ mistress and the woman who inspired the character of Lara in Dr. Zhivago. It is Olga who tells us the story of Boris’s life (and hers) inside the Soviet Union — as his novel begins to garner worldwide recognition which causes embarrassment to the Soviet government.
The story of how the novel came to be published is an interesting one. As are the lives of Boris and Olga under Soviet rule — with surveillance, harassment, ostracism, and even a few arrests. And I appreciated learning more about the U.S. role in distributing Dr. Zhivago and how clandestine operations are carried out. But I found some of the lesser story threads, much less compelling. And I found myself annoyed at times, struggling to determine who was “voicing” some of the chapters, when the author intentionally made that identification obscure.
Loved it
Lara Prescott’s The Secrets We Kept is the parallel narrative of Boris Pasternak’s toil to finish – and publish – Dr. Zhivago and the CIA’s mission to ensure that the latter occurs. To that end, the CIA employs two secretaries, one a seasoned spy last seen blowing bridges in the European theater, circa 1945, and the other, Irina, a total novice and daughter of Russian immigrants. As for Pasternak’s life in Soviet Russia, it is as bleak as can be expected, with plenty of appearances by the secret police, stints in the gulag, and a general air of menace.
Each of the stories is interesting enough, though neither of them captured my attention in a way that made me feel I simply *had* to keep reading. Much of this I attribute to the characters, who generally struck me in much the same way as Sophie Duval in Meet Me in Monaco: none were ever more than mere characters to me, and I wasn’t invested in what became of them in any capacity. The spy shenanigans were fun, and the period detail – early days of the CIA, Washington in the 1950s, that kind of thing – had much to recommend them.
More intriguing is that The Secrets We Kept was inspired by true events: yes, once upon a time, the CIA agitated to publish a book in an effort to change hearts and mind. On the one hand, it’s amazing to consider such pre-internet tactics; on the other hand, there’s more than a hint of the-more-things-change-the-more-they-stay-the-same when scanning headlines about Russian bots and social media. Hearts and minds have always been the key, it seems.
Three stars.
(This review was originally published at https://www.thisyearinbooks.com/2019/11/the-secrets-we-kept.html)